


i feel warm when you want me to

by cinderlily



Category: American Idol RPF
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-29
Updated: 2016-10-29
Packaged: 2018-08-27 15:45:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8407441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cinderlily/pseuds/cinderlily
Summary: David is a little worried that he isn't enough fun for Cook, so he decides to spice up their life with some dates.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [abovetheruins](https://archiveofourown.org/users/abovetheruins/gifts).



David rubbed at his lip and one side of his face. His sister, through FaceTime, actually looked a little concerned so he knew he should say _something_ , but mostly he was just not sure how to word it. 

“Are you guys breaking up?” Claudia asked, leaning in towards the screen. “David James, you can not break up. You pined for TWO YEARS on a mission…” 

He startled. “No, no, gosh NO. I am not breaking up with him. Of course not. I love Cook.” 

She settled back in her chair. “Oh good. I don’t think my bank account could support a ticket to fly in and kill you.” 

“We’re in a _rut_.” 

Her eyes went very wide. “David. I do not want to have this talk. Maybe you should call… like… Dad? Or. A friend? … I’m not going to talk to my baby brother about _that_.”

David could feel his face go red, his ears burning with heat. He covered his face with both hands. “Not that. Oh my _gosh_ , Claudia. Why would I call DAD about that?” 

“I don’t know? Just not ME.” 

“I’m going to pretend you didn’t mention … any of that. Ever. Ever. Ever again,” David rubbed at his cheeks and seriously wished that he did have friends he could go to with this. But most of his friends were also Cook’s friends and he felt awkward even thinking about that. 

“What KIND of rut?” Claudia said, obviously throwing out a life line. 

He grabbed hold of the tablet with both hands. “Since he’s been home recording we’ve just been… like. Watching Netflix, going to movies sometimes. But like. That’s it? We haven’t been on a good date in forever and I’m afraid he’s like _bored_? With us.” 

“ _Davey_ ,” Claudia rolled her eyes. “You called me like you had a genuine problem. Lamer, _plan something_. It’s not that hard.” 

David frowned. “If I could do it, don’t you think I would? We have all these limits. Like, nighttime friendly. Shorter cause he has early mornings. We have like one day off during the week but usually we… um. Stay around the house doing … house stuff.” 

“That’s enough.” She held her hand up, then she balled up her fists and started to tick off ideas with her fingers popping up one by one. “Planetarium. Picnic. Karaoke. Take a walk around a park. Take one of those wine and painting parties things. I don’t know. Google it, David. I’m not your social secretary.” 

He frowned at Claudia. Even though she was and always would be one of his best friends, sometimes she was still his annoying older sister. Secretly? He kind of loved that most about her. 

* 

Google, while helpful, ended up giving him a lot of really heteronormative ideas for dating. (He was taking an online class in sexuality for… reasons. He would have to bring it up on their message board.) But he could figure out a few. He decided that on Tuesday he would try and start out. 

Cook came home with his usual lazy smile, one of his guitars in a bag over his shoulder. He looked comfy and happy and even though they’d been home _together_ for an unprecedented four weeks in a row it was still a novelty to be able to enjoy the look of him walking into their house after a day at work. 

“Honey, I’m home,” Cook said, like he did every single day and gently put his guitar by the front door. “You look like a man awfully dressed up when you didn’t have studio booked today.” 

David smiled, even though he felt like his stomach was about to burst with butterflies. He looked down and scratched at the back of his hand. “Want to go on a date?” 

He looked up to see Cook with a cocked head. “A date?” 

“Yeah. You know. A date. Me and you.” 

“Well, I was seriously hoping it would be you,” Cook laughed. “It would be awkward for my boyfriend to set me up with someone.” 

David rolled his eyes. “ _Cook_ , do you want to go on a date with me?” 

“Depends,” Cook stroked his beard. “Do I get food on said date?” 

“Of course.” 

Cook smiled and shucked off his jacket. “Give me two seconds to change my shirt and I’m down.” 

David put his hands in his pocket and tried to relax. This was Cook. They’d been dating for nearly two years; longer if you counted the time they had spent apparently mutually pining after each other in a manner his sister called really seriously pathetic. But either way. Being nervous for a date with your boyfriend was stupid, right? 

Cook came back down the stairs wearing a comfy looking button down plaid shirt, like always. David _almost_ sent him back up to change out of the ratty old jeans he always wore and instead nodded and pointed at the garage. 

“Our chariot awaits?” Cook asked. 

“You are such a dork,” David teased, turning towards the garage and not holding back the chuckle. 

Cook came up from behind him and gave him a hug. “Yup, but I’m your dork, right?” 

“Forever.” 

* 

They ended up eating at a tiny hole in the wall Mexican place that David had looked up. Apparently it had the best tamales in Nashville and though they were pretty good they did make a pretty sharp reminder that while it was the South, he was not in the Southwest and he missed his mama something fierce. 

The planetarium was within walking distance, which was completely planned but David acted like it was a total surprise. 

“Want to go in?” David asked. 

Cook looked at him with a quirked eyebrow. “Show me the tickets.” 

David blinked. “Wh-what?” 

“You have the tickets in your wallet right now,” Cook said. 

And yeah. He did. He totally did. He guiltily picked them out and showed them to Cook. He’d not wanted to get there and have it be sold out, he was really good at preplanning, and he’d had a free afternoon was all. Cook kissed his cheek and took him by the hand. 

He did that a lot in Nashville. At first, it made David edgy but the fact that after years of PDA no one had said a thing he was pretty sure he was in a safe place. They walked towards the door and gave the lady standing there the tickets. David couldn’t help but pop up on his toes like he’d tried to stop doing since he turned 22 and was an adult or whatever. He saw Cook’s smile out of the corner of his eyes. 

“Excited about learning about science, Archie?” 

He nodded. In truth, he only half cared about the planetarium bit of this. He loved learning and the sky was gorgeous, but he was more excited to be seated next to Cook and to watch it with him. Cook slipped his hand into David’s and they walked into the Auditorium. It was. Well. Pretty much dead. Or more like a third full? Maybe? David felt a little silly for buying tickets early. It was a Tuesday night after all, not prime time for Planetarium. But either way he let Cook pick out seats and slipped into the one beside him. 

“I haven’t been at planetarium since high school,” Cook admitted, leaning in towards David to talk softer. “I got extra credit if I went and showed my science teacher so a group of us went. I got in a little bit of trouble because I got caught making out with Laura Klein while they were doing the show…” 

David blushed. They weren’t going to… not in public. There was PDA and there was _PDA_ and he was okay with it until it crossed a line, which that did. That being said he was not sure why the idea made him feel giddy rather than horrified. A voice came over the loudspeaker, announcing the impending start of the show and David looked around to see who was around them. 

Two small families and a couple in their sixties. Okay, he was _definitely_ not crossing that line. He turned to tell that to Cook when he realized his seat was moving and he was being brought back to look at the roof. 

“Awesome,” he said under his breath, and he heard a wheezy familiar laugh beside him. 

The planetarium was cool, and he watched in fascination as the guy started talking about the Big Bang and the whole room startled with a flash of light. His family had never really allowed him to go to these type of places as a kid, not really because of the science part of it (his mom wanted him to have an open education, even when it didn’t entirely agree with his religion) but just because it cost money and until he got onto Idol his family wasn’t really rolling it in. 

About halfway through he turned to ask if Cook liked the show and found, to his dismay, that Cook was asleep. His head lulled to the side of the headrest and the hand that David had been absent-mindedly holding feeling lax and heavy. He looked at his watch. It was 8:45 and he knew the show wasn’t over for another forty-five minutes, easily. He looked for the exit and weighed the option of being able to get a sleepy Cook out of it without causing a huge fuss. 

Instead he moved his body to enjoy the warmth of Cook and watched the rest of the show by himself. When it ended he gently nudged Cook awake and found that he was entirely apologetic but sleep drunk and so David lead him out to the car and took him home. 

*

“He fell asleep?” Claudia said, her voice higher than usual like she was trying to hold back a laugh. 

David huffed. “Yeah. So we came home and watched a bit of Friends before he fell asleep for good.” 

“Davey, you know how long days are in the studio,” she tutted. “You can’t blame him for that. You took him to a slightly warm dark room with a soothing voice. Hell, **I’d** fall asleep.” 

“YOU SUGGESTED IT! He was so bored he _fell asleep_.” 

She shrugged and he groaned. “You’re overthinking this; do something he would think was fun. Also, I’m registering a complaint that you think David Cook is anything but crazy happy and in love with you. So stop with the emo.” 

David shifted in his seat and fidgeted. “I don’t think he doesn’t love me, Clauds. I just can’t help but think that he is going to realize that I’m not… I’m not his friends.”

“I am pretty sure he’s aware you are not his friends,” she said. “Unless he’s got some pretty weird ideas on friendship.” 

“His friends are _cool_ ,” David jumped in, mostly ignoring his sister. “They are the type to run out and get tattoos on a whim, or go bar hopping, or like… skinny dip?” 

“Are they in a teen comedy? No one goes skinny dipping,” Claudia said. “I mean. I don’t know anyone who ever has.” 

David debated telling her about the time that all of Cook’s band did it in a random pool in Arizona. He wasn’t there, obviously, but he got some very colorful pictures from one of the roadies. He’d blushed for two weeks solid when he thought about it. It wasn’t that the pictures were risque or even something he’d not seen quite often but he was just not the type to do that, at all. 

“So the planetarium was a bust, try something else,” Claudia said. “But it doesn’t matter. He loves you and he lives with you and he is happy. Remind yourself of that.” 

He could believe the first two but was more than anxious about the third one. He said his goodbyes and turned off FaceTime.

* 

Over the next week and a half he tried to think of things, but each one failed in its own spectacular way. At least Cook didn’t fall asleep at any of them. 

They went to a concert, which would have been fun except for the fact that the bassist of the opening band turned out to be a friend of Cook’s from pre-Idol days so the evening ended up being mostly a game of catch up that didn’t involve David. They sat at a local diner until _David_ almost fell asleep on the table and Cook laughed and easily lifted him up to drag him to the car to take him home with promises to catch up with the bassist later. 

Another night he tried taking Cook to Karaoke, which turned out to be something that Cook really liked except he liked it a little _too_ much and after the third song and second beer his voice was shot. He had studio time booked the next day and that was costly, David knew, and it also could cost hard working people money so David grabbed him and took him home, making him voice rest, tea, and a Neti Pot. His guilt was mostly assuaged when Cook came home the next day to tell him that they had focused on guitar parts for the day and that it had been fine. 

On the following Tuesday night, a week after the planetarium, he’d had plans to take Cook to one of those bars with a bull to ride. He’d checked to make sure it was relatively safe, that they had safer settings. He didn’t want Cook to damage a hand and not be able to play. 

He’d had a session that day, so he was running later than he’d like to get home and ready for the date night. They were lucky that the next day was off for both of them so he guessed they could stay out pretty late and not have to worry as much. He got out of the car in the garage and slipped into the door, taking his shoes off just as a warm delicious scent hit his nose. 

“Cook?” he called out, walking to their kitchen. 

Cook stood there with a huge smile on his face, “I did, how could you tell?” 

David groaned. That and Cook’s apron the declared ‘Kiss the Cook’ were his two favorite home related puns. David had probably heard them about a thousand times in the span of their friendship and relationship. “I thought we were going out tonight.” 

Cook shook his head. “Nope. Not tonight. Sit down, I made chili.” 

“Chili?” David said, interest piqued. Cook wasn’t the best at a lot of things, but his chili was pretty much David’s favorite. Even if he made out of the box cornbread. 

They moved to the small table they’d set up in the kitchen. They had a bigger table for guests, but the small little bistro-sized table was their favorite. It was _their_ spot. David paused to put his phone and keys on a shelf, shutting his phone to silent to enjoy the quiet time with Cook. The table was already set, a large glass of water in front of one seat and a beer in front of the other. 

“Didn’t you have a session today?” 

Cook nodded, putting a bowl down in front of him and a plate of cornbread in the center of the table. “Got out early.” 

“I was going to take you to this bar,” David said, trying for calm and off the cuff. “It’s called Mal’s and it has a huge fake bull…” 

Cook sat down across from him. “We’re in Nashville, Arch, everywhere has a bull.” 

David frowned down into his chili, even though it was delicious. He took a few bites, grabbing the corn bread and dipping it into take another few bites. 

“So, how long am I going to have to wait till you tell me what’s up?” Cook said, and David almost choked on the bread. He swallowed half the glass of water in one giant gulp. 

“What do you mean?” he said, not giving enough for either of them to believe him. 

Cook nudged his feet, making him look up. “Look, something’s up. And I’m your boyfriend. I love you. I want to make you happy, and you don’t seem so happy this week. You seem … stressed. So let me in, please?” 

David felt the knot in his chest start to untie a little. He put his spoon down, because it was rude to talk with his mouth full and because he sometimes flailed and he didn’t want to have to clean up sauce from the ceiling… again. He took a good long look at Cook and found himself enjoying the little things he hadn’t really looked at in a while. 

The crinkle lines at the corner of his eyes that were there even when he wasn’t smiling. The way his eyes were so focused on him and so deeply hazel. His slightly turned down lips from concerned. This was the man he loved, and boy did he love him. He loved David Cook more than he thought possible. More than he thought he was ever going to be allowed to love someone. 

He exhaled. 

“I love you,” he started and Cook opened his mouth to respond but he put his hand up. “But I’m not your friends. I’m not cool, or fun. I know that you get to do crazy stuff with Monty and the guys. I know you get to have adventures and do things that are … more than I can give you. I don’t want you to get bored… you know… of me.” 

Cook tilted his head slightly and there was a second of silence before Cook let out a laugh that was one for the record books. David could feel his hackles rise. He’d just professed his biggest fear and the guy was laughing? Cook’s hand reached out and took his, calming himself down just in time for David to _not_ get up and leave the room. 

“Are you kidding me, Arch?” he said, the laughter gone but the smile on his face still bright. “You are not one of my friends. You will never be _one of my friends_. You are my best friend. And it is quite possibly the best friendship ever. I mean, besides the obvious side benefits. You are … the perfect counterbalance. The yin to my yang. You keep me happy and calm, and I love that, I love _you_ for it.

“Is that why you’ve been taking me on all these weird dates?” 

David blushed a little. “Maybe.” 

Cook leaned over the table and kissed him on the lips. “You’ve been miserable all week because you wanted me to have ill-spent youth adventures with you?” 

“The planetarium was fun,” David offered. 

“You were going to take me to a _bar_ , Archuleta,” Cook frowned. “Come on.” 

“I wanted you to have _fun_.” 

Cook tightened the hold he had on David’s hand. “You know what’s fun for me?” 

“What?” David said, perhaps a bit too eagerly, waiting to know what they could do to make him happy. 

“Eating chili with _you_ , then curling up on _our_ couch and me educating you on all the movies you missed being in utero.” 

David chewed his lower lip. “You aren’t just saying that because you know I don’t want to go to the bar.” 

“ **I** don’t want to go to the bar, man,” Cook shrugged. “Going out is fun, I would go on any adventure you wanted. But I like _our life_. I like our adventures. And the fact that we have the rest of our lives for them. That’s pretty freaking epic if you ask me. And something I sure as hell don’t want to share with Monty.” 

David laughed, for the first time in weeks feeling a peace he hadn’t actually thought was possible. He looked down at the food in front of him and thought about the comfort of their couch and thought maybe the night could be perfect without risking their bones on a mechanical bull. 

“One thing…” he said. 

Cook gave him a slightly concerned look. “What?” 

“Can one of our adventures be figuring out how to make _real_ cornbread?” 

Cook threw his napkin at him. “See if I make you dinner ever again.” 

David smiled and took a big bite of bread dipped in chili. He settled back in his chair and they didn’t let go of their intertwined fingers again for a long while.

**Author's Note:**

> For abovetheruins who is so sweet and kind I genuinely teared up and who requested David asking Cook out on a date... which turned into this. (Let me know if you'd rather that, I can write more, I promise!) 
> 
> Thank you so so so much to Tonya for the quick beta. <3 
> 
> Also title from "Careful Where You Stand" by Coldplay
> 
> "Careful where you stand, my love  
> Careful where you lay your head  
> It's true we're always looking  
> Out for one another
> 
> I feel safe when I am with you  
> And I feel warm when you want me too"


End file.
